I wanted to let you all know that I’ve just heard from Key Curriculum Press, maker of the very popular Geometer’s Sketchpad software. They have released a new app for the iPad called Sketchpad Explorer. Sketchpad Explorer offers users access to a large amount of Geometer’s Sketchpad material on the web. I’m planning an “App Week” for Tech Powered Math very soon, so a Sketchpad Explorer review is on the docket.
Will an HP exit leave TI and Casio as the last graphing calculator makers? Last week’s announcement that HP was shutting down WebOS may have significant consequences in the mathematics community. The original shock was that the TouchPad has been eliminated from HP’s plans just a couple of months after its launch, with a national advertising campaign still going on (at least as of this weekend). But read beyond the headlines at all, and you’ll realize that this announcement was far more significant.
Mental math is one of those skills you either love to show off or dread that you might be forced to use in public. It doesn’t matter whether you are 8 years old or 48 years old. We all know mental math skills are important. You don’t want to pull out your calculator for every arithmetic fact you come up against. And yet, for some people, mental math just doesn’t come naturally.
Apparently, this tablet thing is really taking off. While I expected tablets, specifically the iPad, to make significant inroads in schools this year, I have to admit I’m surprised by the volume of stories on tablets in school already this year, specifically the iPad, of course. The latest news has Apple, Intel, and Microsoft all competing over a 15 million tablet deal to make their popular devices for kids in Turkey.
Textbook publisher McGraw-Hill is sponsoring a contest with $174,000 of prizes on the line called, “This Is My Math.” Starting on September 15, teachers of K-5 students can submit their students math artwork. Notably, the artwork must be submitted in digital form. The kids have a chance to explain their artwork, which is a pretty significant factor in the judging–40%. Contest entries must be submitted by October 29. Beginning on November 11, the public can vote on their favorite entries.
Fermat’s famous quote, paraphrased in a 21st century context Google is celebrating Pierre De Fermat’s birthday with one of the trademark Doodles. The Doodle features a blackboard with Fermat’s Last Theorem. If you’re not familiar with the story of Fermat’s famous theorem, it’s a good one. To oversimplify, Fermat claimed in one of his notebooks that if you took the Pythagorean theorem and substituted larger integers than two for the exponents, there were no “non-trivial” integer solutions to the problem.
Google grabbed headlines yesterday with the announcement that they would be paying a whopping $12.5 billion for Motorola. Here’s the story from the Associated Press. This acquisition will potentially have a big impact on educators down the road as tablets continue to make inroads in schools. It sets the stage for Google and Apple to move into an all out brawl between Android and iOS as they struggle for control of the mobile space of phones and tablets.
For the next two weeks, Texas Instruments is giving teachers a $50 discount on the TI-Nspire CX. You’ve only got until the end of August to take advantage, so be sure to get your coupon fast. And if you haven’t seen it yet, check out my TI-Nspire CX review. From the Texas Instruments email announcing the deal: Save $50 when you make a TI-Nspire™ CX purchase Hurry – offer ends August 31st!
The Huffington Post is just one of numerous media outlets reporting on a Johns Hopkins research study about number sense in pre-schoolers. Essentially, the study showed that even though the kids hadn’t learned much in the way of in the way of formal mathematics, it was possible to measure their number sense abilities already. Further, those with better number sense also scored highly on tests that would predict the kids’ future mathematics ability.
Wolfram, maker of Mathematica and the popular Wolfram Alpha app, has announced a free virtual conference on Mathematica. The conference is designed for a variety of types of Mathematica users. In fact there are five tracks for the conference. Track 1–Discover Mathematica Track 2–What’s New in Mathematica Track 3–Applying Mathematica in Industry and Research Track 4–Applying Mathematica in Education Track 5–Developing on the Mathematica Platform This is a free conference, but seats are limited.
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